Congratulations
to Juke Joint Sinners for winning the Iowa Blues Challenge on May 19.
Juke Joint Sinners is a newly formed five-piece band composed of
veteran musicians from the Quad Cities. Although the group as a whole
is new, it's not the first time its members have played together.
Their earlier projects together have been with some of the Quad
Cities' top bands, including John Resch & the Detroit Blues,
Shane Johnson's Blue Train, and The Mercury Brothers. Each of these
previous bands has won the Iowa Blues Challenge in the past, and all
the members of this band have made it to the finals of the
International Blues Challenge in Memphis. No small feat there! Guitar
work for the band is handled by two of the area's very best
players, Shane Johnson and the Mercury Brothers' Wade Braggs.
Vocals and bass guitar are handled by Blue Train and Detroit Blues
frontman John Resch. On drums is the powerful, "rock flavored"
Daniel Rangel. And, finally, of harp player "Detroit Larry"
Davison, a director of the Mississippi Valley Blues Society once
remarked, "You'd have to go to Chicago to find a better harmonica
player."

The
band performs its own material and unique interpretations of
contemporary and classic blues numbers with power and passion.

- Glenn
Cotabish

Popa Chubby,
7 p.m.

When
I heard the news, I about fell out. Popa Chubby has been one of the
best-kept secrets of the blues for quite some time, but now the
diamond in the rough is about to become known to the rest. A few
hardcores know about Chubby because he is an Elwood Blues favorite
and has appeared on The House of Blues Radio Hour. Chubby has played
in Des Moines, Chicago, and Wisconsin as of late, but about half the
year he tours in Europe. Chubby says, "I have to be out there doing
it. The heart and soul of the blues is to bring it to the people
night after night."

I
was turned on to Popa Chubby about 10 years ago, when my wife bought
a birthday CD. The clerk at Co-Op Records thought a Stevie Ray
Vaughan fan might like him and suggested Booty
& the Beast. From the
very first time in the player, I knew that Popa Chubby was a player.
Hailing from New York City, Popa Chubby, a.k.a. Ted Horowitz, mixes
the old with the new and blends numerous styles of music into an
intense fusion of the blues. One might not think that mixing funk,
rock, Latin, reggae, and hip-hop with the blues would work, but let
me tell you: It does! Chubby creates a modern musical vision for the
future of blues and blues rock.

After
almost wearing out Booty &
the Beast, I got How'd
a White Boy Get the Blues?
I was hesitant, because I hadn't heard the CD, but I gave it a try
on the strength of the previous release. I was blown away. Chubby
blends the past with the present and is a modern-day storytelling
blues master.

What
is great about Chubby is his respect for the past masters. Popa
constantly pays tribute to the likes of Willie Dixon, Freddie King,
Muddy Waters, BB, Stevie, etc. You've got to like that. Another
fabulous part of Popa's work is his wife Galea's vocals. I don't
know if she is coming with him to the Fest, but I sure hope so!

My
next Chubby CD was The Good, the
Bad, & the Chubby.
Again, I heard a masterful blend of blues/rock fusion and wonderful
storytelling. One of the best was "Somebody Let the Devil Out," a
heartfelt story about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

If
you don't see Popa Chubby at the Fest, I guarantee you that you
will be missing something. You'll be missing one big bad dude
cooking up a pot of some serious blues/rock fusion. I for one will be
there with knife and fork; I am hungry for some serious live Popa
Chubby!

- Steve
Langhauser

Ronnie Baker
Brooks, 9 p.m.

Ronnie
Baker Brooks is Chicago blues at its best. Ronnie, son of the
rocking-blues Alligator Records recording star Lonnie Brooks, first
stepped onto stage at age nine, playing with Lonnie at Pepper's
Lounge in Chicago. He joined his father's band full-time in 1986.

After
more than a dozen years as a lead guitarist and bandleader for his
living-blues-legend father, Ronnie Baker Brooks began making his own
way to blue stardom. In 1992, he played his first solo gig at the New
Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He made the jump to permanent
solo status New Year's Eve 1998 at Buddy Guy's in Chicago.

Ronnie
Baker Brooks' soulful vocals and electrifying guitar reflect the
influences of the many blues giants he has jammed with. Albert
Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Luther Allison, and Buddy Guy are a few.
Ronnie's band consists of Daryl Coutts on keyboard, Carl Armstrong
on bass, and drummer Maurice "Moe" Taylor, who has had many other
musical affiliations, including with Lonnie Brooks, Buddy Guy, BB
King, and Mavis Staples.

Ronnie
Baker Brooks has released four CDs. His 1998 debut, Gold
Digger, was followed by
Take Me Witcha,
Ronnie Baker Brooks Live,
and his most recent release, The
Torch. All the songs were
written by Ronnie Baker Brooks, and all four CDs were produced by
Jellybean Johnson and Ronnie Baker Brooks.

Ronnie
says, "The importance of crossing cultural barriers is one of the
most important lessons I've learned. I'm determined to keep the
family legacy, to keep the blues alive."

Soul
and gospel legend Mavis Staples possesses one of the most
recognizable and treasured voices in contemporary music. From her
early days sharing lead vocals with her groundbreaking family group,
The Staple Singers, to her powerful solo recordings, Mavis Staples is
an inspirational force in modern popular culture and music.

Mavis
is a 40-year-plus veteran of the music scene - a Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame inductee (2006) and one of VH1's "Greatest Women of
Rock & Roll." Her voice has influenced artists from Bob Dylan
to Prince (who dubbed her "the epitome of soul"), and she has
appeared with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Cosby, Presidents
Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Santana, Tom
Petty & the Heartbreakers, Aretha Franklin, and many others.

Born
in Chicago, Mavis began her career with her family group in 1950.
Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio
show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for
the VeeJay label. When Mavis graduated high school in 1957, the
Staple Singers took their music on the road, including family
patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples and Mavis' siblings Cleo,
Yvonne, and Pervis.

The
Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers to become the
most spectacular and influential spiritually based group in America.
By the mid-1960s, the Staple Singers became the spiritual and musical
voices of the civil-rights movement.

Mavis
Staples recorded her first solo album, Mavis
Staples, in 1969. After
releasing Only for the Lonely
in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A
Piece of the Action, on
Curtis Mayfield's Custom label. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40
eight times between 1971 and 1975. Now a long ways from their roots
as a pure gospel group, the Staple Singers were bona fide pop stars.

A
1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction
of Prince: 1989's Time Waits
for No One, followed by
1993's The Voice,
which People
magazine named to its top-10 albums of the year.

During
her career, Mavis has appeared in many films and television shows,
including Soul Train
and The Cosby Show.
Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop
artists, including Salt-N-Pepa, Ice Cube, and Ludacris. Mavis has
recorded with a wide variety of musicians, including her close friend
Bob Dylan, The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie
Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals
on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on
recent tribute albums to Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster, and Bob
Dylan.

After
Pops Staples died in 2000, Mavis and her siblings temporarily stepped
out of the spotlight. However, she scored a 2003 Grammy nomination
for her duet with Dylan, "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking." In
2004 she returned with Have a
Little Faith on Alligator
Records.

With
Have a Little Faith,
Mavis Staples is building on a family tradition of joining gospel
fervor with shades of soul and R&B. Her importance in both the
music world and as a driving force of social change makes her a true
icon - an artist who continues to create music that will inspire a
whole new generation of people to have faith in the healing and
uplifting power of her remarkable gift.